28 Amendments of Seb DANCE related to 2018/2792(RSP)
Amendment 11 #
Recital A
A. whereas EU legal emission limits are still above what has been recommended by the WHO; whereas 98% of the EU’s urban population is exposed to ozone levels exceeding WHO guidelines;
Amendment 15 #
Recital A a (new)
A a. whereas the most recent EEA estimates1a of the health impacts attributable to exposure to air pollution indicate that particulate matter (PM) 2.5 concentrations in 2014 were responsible for about 399,000 premature deaths originating from long-term exposure in the EU28; whereas the estimated impacts in the EU of exposure to NO2 and O3 concentrations in 2014 were around 75,000 and 13,600 premature deaths per year; _________________ 1a EEA Air quality in Europe — 2017 report
Amendment 19 #
Recital A b (new)
A b. Around 90% of Europeans living in cities are exposed to levels of air pollution deemed damaging to human health;
Amendment 20 #
Recital B
Amendment 46 #
Paragraph 3
3. Underlines once again that air pollution has a local, regional, national and cross-border dimension and requires action at all levels of governance; asks, therefore, for a strengthening of the multi-level governance approach where all actors take the responsibility for measures that can and should be taken at that very level; similarly, considers that there should be much more joined up policy making in the European Commission with the involvement of all Directorate Generals concerned; regrets that, despite being competent for air pollution, DG Environment’s objectives are often undermined by policies and interests coming out of other departments;
Amendment 67 #
Paragraph 6 a (new)
6 a. Considers that air quality plans for zones and agglomerations with persistent levels of pollutants above EU limit values should eliminate the exceedances as soon as possible, as clearly required by Directive 2008/50/EC and already confirmed by several recent Court judgements;
Amendment 86 #
Paragraph 12 a (new)
12 a. Highlights that road traffic is responsible for around 40% of nitrogen oxides (NOx) emissions in the EU and around 80% the total NOx from traffic is generated by diesel powered vehicles; further stresses that emissions produced by diesel passenger cars that exceeded the EU pollution limits on the road were responsible for the premature deaths of 6,800 Europeans in 2015;
Amendment 87 #
Paragraph 12 b (new)
12 b. Considers that current technology exists to meet the Euro 6 NOx standards for diesel vehicles, including with regard to real driving conditions and without having a negative impact on CO2 emissions;
Amendment 89 #
Paragraph 12 c (new)
12 c. Recalls that over 40 million Euro 5 & 6 cars and vans still do not respect emission limits on the road;
Amendment 107 #
Paragraph 16 a (new)
16 a. Calls on the Commission to continue its work on improving Portable Emission Measurement Systems (PEMS) performance in order to improve their accuracy and reduce their error margin; considers that for particulate matter PEMS technology should be able to account for particles whose size is smaller than 23 nanometres and that are the most dangerous to public health;
Amendment 108 #
Paragraph 16 b (new)
16 b. Calls on the Commission to consider introducing an EU-wide remote sensing network to monitor the real world emissions of the car fleet and to identify excessively polluting vehicles in order to target in-service conformity checks and to trace cars that might be illegally modified with hardware (e.g. exhaust gas recirculation (EGR) switch-off plates, diesel particulate filter (DPF) or selective catalytic reduction (SCR) removal) or software (illegal chip tuning) modifications;
Amendment 111 #
Paragraph 16 c (new)
16 c. Given the failure of Euro standards to deliver expected emission reductions in the real world, considers that vehicle restriction zones such as low emission zones and diesel bans remain the only effective tools at the disposal of local and regional authorities in the fight against air pollution;
Amendment 113 #
Paragraph 16 d (new)
16 d. Calls on the Commission to make use of their delegated powers under Directive 2014/45/EU on periodic roadworthiness tests for motor vehicles and their trailers to update the test procedure so that all Member States have to test the in-service conformity of cars with NOx emission standards during periodic technical inspections;
Amendment 115 #
Paragraph 16 e (new)
16 e. Calls on the Commission to consider introducing standards to tackle non-exhaust emissions of vehicles;
Amendment 116 #
Paragraph 16 f (new)
16 f. Calls on the Commission to propose a post-Euro 6 standard for cars that is fuel, technology and application neutral and aligns, as a minimum, with California/US (Tier 3 and LEV III) NOx standards and in-service conformity and durability requirements;
Amendment 117 #
Paragraph 16 g (new)
16 g. Recalls that non-road vehicles, mainly agricultural and construction machinery, are a key source of pollution in a majority of European countries, accounting for one quarter of the PM2.5 and more than 15% of the NOx emitted from mobile sources;
Amendment 118 #
Paragraph 16 h (new)
16 h. Calls on the Commission to address emissions from construction site machinery beyond the NRMM Regulation by conducting an impact assessment on the potential of zero- emission construction machinery in cutting air- and noise-pollution levels, and moreover its possible inclusion in future revisions of relevant EU legislation;
Amendment 119 #
Paragraph 16 a (new)
16 a. Recognises that current food and farming systems are responsible for excessive ammonia (NH3), nitrous oxide (N2O) and methane (CH4) emissions, whereas 94% of ammonia emissions and 40% of methane emissions come from agricultural activities;
Amendment 121 #
Paragraph 17
17. Recalls that in 2015 ammonia emissions from the agricultural sector accounted for 94% of total ammonia emissions across the Union; hHighlights that in urban areas, ammonia emissions account for around 50% of the health impacts of air pollution, as ammonia is a key precursor to particulate matter;
Amendment 130 #
Paragraph 18 a (new)
18 a. Highlights that the costs of air pollution control in Europe are significantly lower in the agricultural sector in comparison to other sectors where more stringent emission controls have already been implemented;
Amendment 131 #
Paragraph 18 b (new)
18 b. Underlines the fact that technical measures to limit ammonia emissions exist, but are so far only used by a few Member States; recalls that these include nitrogen management, taking into account the full nitrogen cycle; livestock feeding strategies to reduce nitrogen excretion, from cattle, pigs and poultry; low-emission land application of manure and fertiliser; low-emission manure storage systems; low-emission manure processing and composting systems; low- emission animal housing systems; low- emission approaches for mineral fertiliser application;
Amendment 136 #
Subheading 3 a (new)
Energy
Amendment 137 #
Paragraph 19 a (new)
19 a. Recalls that the energy production and distribution sector is responsible for more than half of sulphur oxides (SOx) emissions and one fifth of nitrogen oxides (NOx) emissions in the 33 EEA member countries;
Amendment 138 #
Paragraph 19 b (new)
19 b. Highlights the significant contribution from coal and lignite plants to mercury emissions in the EU and that 62% of mercury emissions from EU industry come from coal-fired power plants;
Amendment 139 #
Paragraph 19 c (new)
19 c. Recalls that mercury is a dangerous neurotoxin, which is damaging for the nervous system at even relatively low levels of exposure;
Amendment 140 #
Paragraph 19 d (new)
19 d. Welcomes the commitments by at least ten EU member states to phase out coal; calls on other EU member states to phase out coal as an energy source by 2030 at the latest;
Amendment 141 #
Paragraph 19 e (new)
19 e. Considers that future CAP funding should be linked to mandatory air pollutant abatement measures;
Amendment 142 #
Paragraph 19 f (new)
19 f. Highlights the various cost- effective ways of addressing methane emissions without affecting meat and milk consumption; considers that manure management offers emissions reduction potential, through the adoption of simple and cost-efficient measures from storage to spreading techniques; further considers that changing feeding strategies (e.g. adding leguminous such as alfalfa and flax) would significantly reduce enteric methane emissions; recalls that the material remaining after anaerobic digestion, whereby organic waste material is broken down by micro-organisms and converted into biogas, is rich in nutrients and can be used as a natural fertiliser;